


Hold My Liquor

by poetroe



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alcohol, Drinking, F/F, I can't believe this is my first korrasami fic y'all, Korrasami - Freeform, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 06:38:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13898421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poetroe/pseuds/poetroe
Summary: “Well then,” Korra says solemnly, while lining up the shot glasses for herself and her new friend, “let’s say screw our dads and get wasted. You in?” The girl eyes the shot glasses with a mischievous smile, then directs her gaze at Korra. It feels like those green eyes can see straight through her and suddenly her Water Tribe dress feels suffocating.“You bet,” the girl answers before downing the first shot like a pro.Korra is pretty sure she’s in love.





	Hold My Liquor

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I took some liberties with timelines and storylines when I wrote this. It isn’t really an AU but more of a what-if, an alternative way of how Korra and Asami could’ve met. Title is from the Kanye song, enjoy!!!

If it wasn’t because she is the Avatar, it would be because she is the daughter of the Southern Water Tribe chief. Either way, Korra has to be here; a fancy party with world leaders, businessmen and other famous people all rubbing shoulders and making polite conversation. There is a jazz band in the front of the room and a bar to either side, with a dance floor in the middle. Korra was currently holing up behind one of the two bars, sipping her drink and trying to avoid eye contact with anyone, lest any of these snobs attempt to talk to her. Besides, if she was forced to attend these things, the least she could do is eat her weight in shrimp and take advantage of the open bar. She is halfway through her fourth drink when she spots her father.

“Shit,” Korra mutters as she abandons her glass and speed-walks to hide behind one of the obnoxiously large ferns that line the room. Her dad is most definitely going to tell her to socialize and if there is one thing she loathes about being the Avatar, it’s that. Her supposed “duty” to keep in touch with stuffy old men. Korra waits a minute, then pokes her head around the plant, and by then her dad is nowhere to be seen.

“The coast is clear, Avatar Korra, I repeat: the coast is clear,” she whispers to herself as she moves behind the other ferns with the stealth of a ninja. Okay, maybe she is a little tipsy. But that doesn’t matter because she makes it to the other bar with no trouble at all, and orders another drink.

It’s crazy how different the people are at this side of the room, Korra thinks to herself. She’s noticed a girl about her own age, smoking hot and tall, who seems to be approaching this party the same way as Korra, by drinking alone. She’s by far the prettiest person in the room and Korra decides she’s had enough of hanging around this party on her own, so she downs her drink in one go, steals shrimp from a passing waiter and slides up to the girl in what she hopes to be a smooth motion.

“Is it hot in here, or is that just you?” Korra asks the girl with a subtle smirk, before stuffing the shrimp in her mouth. The girl has a surprised look on her face and then Korra realizes that having a mouth full of seafood might not be the best way to approach a girl. She grabs a random drink from the bar, swallows the shrimp with what turns out to be beer, frowns at the taste and then clears her throat. “Um, what I meant to say was, what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?”

The girl throws her head back and laughs softly at Korra’s antics, before observing her for a moment. “I could ask you the same thing,” she says with a slight smile. Korra feels her cheeks warm up because honestly, it shouldn’t be possible but this girl is even more stunning up close.

She sighs as she answers. “Actually... I kind of have to be here. My dad is chief of the Southern Water Tribe and he’s always bugging me to talk to people at these things. Which I guess I’m finally doing now,” Korra says with a small smile. The girl is looking at her with piercing green eyes, a twinkle in them as if she knows something that Korra doesn’t.

“Oh, is that why you were hiding behind that fern earlier?” She smirks as Korra’s cheeks somehow burn up even more. Another waiter passes them and quick as lighting, Korra manages to swipe some more shrimp from the tray.

“I can’t believe you saw that,” Korra mutters as she chews on her shrimp. “Here, want one?”

The girl smiles and her hand brushes over Korra’s as she takes the shrimp. “Don’t worry, I’m not the type to kiss and tell.”

At this point, Korra’s mouth is once again filled with food, and she nearly chokes on it in response to the girl’s casual remark. Grabbing the beer from before, she takes a gulp and swallows. “Um,” she says, turning back the girl, “that’s good to know. But I still don’t get what someone as beautiful as yourself is doing with all these...” Lost for words, Korra gestures at the mostly middle aged men around them. “...You know.” The girl chuckles.

“Same as you, actually. My dad likes to take these opportunities to broker deals for his business and he wants me to continue the family tradition.” She shrugs and sips her wine offhandedly. Korra is struck by the similarities between their situations, and in a spur of the moment decision orders them some shots.

“Well then,” Korra says solemnly, while lining up the shot glasses for herself and her new friend, “let’s say screw our dads and get wasted. You in?” The girl eyes the shot glasses with a mischievous smile, then directs her gaze at Korra. It feels like those green eyes can see straight through her and suddenly her Water Tribe dress feels suffocating.

“You bet,” the girl answers before downing the first shot like a pro.

Korra is pretty sure she’s in love.

***

They’re both two shots in when Korra realizes she has no clue what to call the girl she was currently standing shoulder to shoulder with. She turns around to fully face her and says: “So, um, I just realized that I never asked your name.”

“It’s Asami,” answers the girl with a smile and she’s holding out her hand for Korra to take.

“Awesome,” says Korra as she takes Asami’s hand and shakes it with a grin of her own. “I’m Korra. Nice to, well, uh, officially meet you.” The sentence doesn’t come out as fluently as it had been in Korra’s head, the fault lying entirely with the softness of Asami’s skin and how it made Korra lose all of her focus. That and the alcohol, probably.

“Likewise,” Asami says and the soft expression on her face with which she looks at Korra is enough for her next words to come tumbling out of her mouth.

“So, is there a mister Asami I should know about?” she asks and immediately a sense of dread settles on her stomach. Is it too soon for her to ask that question? Is it too forward? Korra is stressing out enough that she almost misses Asami’s response.

“There used to be, up until about a year ago. He was a pro-bender and, in the end, kind of an asshole.” Asami grimaces at the memory of her ex. “We broke up when I found out he’d been hanging around and kissing some other girl.”

“Yikes,” Korra responds and Asami raises an eyebrow. “That kind of sounds like this guy I used to date. He’s a good friend, but I can’t believe how unbelievable unfit for a relationship that boy is.”

Asami takes a sip of her wine. “So you’re still friends?” She asks. “I thought staying friends after a break-up was a myth, something everybody says they’re going to do, but no one eventually ever manages.” Korra smirks as she thinks of Mako.

“I think the main reason it works between us is because we were friends before. We were actually on a pro-bending team together for a while,” she says, while she gulps down another shot. Asami is a quick drinker and the last thing Korra wants is to slow her down.

“Oh really?” Asami moves even closer and puts her hand on Korra’s bicep. “Well, you definitely have the physique for it.” Korra grins at the compliment and ducks her head down. Was it always this hot in this room? Couldn’t they open up a window? “What team were you guys in?” Asami asks. “I’ve been to a fair share of pro-bending games, who knows, I might have seen you play.”

When it comes to her pro-bending team and their accomplishments, Korra is really proud of herself and her teammates. This manifests itself in how she stops leaning so much on the bar for support and straightens her back, pushes out her chest just a little and looks Asami straight in the eye. “We were the Fire Ferrets, the best team in Republic City and the entire world!” To add some more strength to her statement, Korra picks up another shot glass, downs it and slams it back on the bar. The liquor burns its way down her throat and Korra scrunches up her face at the taste. “Ew,” she says as she takes a quick sip from Asami’s white wine to get rid of the taste.

“No way, the Fire Ferrets? That means you know Mako,” Asami says.

“Yep,” Korra responds. “He was actually the guy I was talking about before.” Asami shakes her head in realization and Korra feels like she’s missing something. “Why, do you know him?”

“You could say that,” Asami says with a smirk as she takes a shot. There are only two left now and Korra would be lying if she said that the alcohol wasn’t affecting her severely. “Mako and I used to date. It was actually him I was talking about earlier.”

“Wait, really?” Korra feels her eyes growing wide as she takes in the girl next to her. “God, Mako is an even bigger idiot than I thought if he cheated on you, I mean—" Lost for words, Korra just gestures at Asami, hoping her point gets across.

Asami chuckles and slides one of the two remaining shots over to Korra. Lifting up her own, she says: “Good riddance.” Korra picks up her own and clinks it with Asami’s.

“Definitely.” The burn in the back of her throat is starting to become familiar, just like the warmth of Asami’s arm pressed close against her own, and Korra silently thanks all the stars and previous Avatars and honestly, any deity she can think of for Mako’s mistakes.

***

Korra has been talking to Asami all night. She learns that her father is Hiroshi Sato, inventive entrepreneur but a lousy dad, and that her mother died when she was only six. Korra, in turn, shares memories from her childhood, ranging from when she went sledding on otter penguins with master Katara that one time to the story of how she met Naga in a blizzard.

“So there we were, little me and the cutest polar bear dog pup in the world, hiding from the storm under a heap of snow. I was sick for two weeks after, but it got me Naga and I wouldn’t trade her for anything.” Korra takes a swig from the bottle of wine and passes it to Asami. They’re sitting on a couch, tucked away in the corner of the lobby of the building that this party is held in, with two bottles of wine that Asami managed to sneak out of the room. They finished the first one some time ago, the second one is well on its way and Korra feels light and heavy at the same time. She’s sitting so close to Asami now that she’s having some trouble focusing on Asami’s eyes.

“You look cute when you do that with your face,” Asami chuckles, and she taps Korra’s nose with her index finger. “All scrunched up, like a baby hog monkey.”

“Hey!” Korra says, quasi indignant at the assumption that she is anything but a total badass. “If anything, I’m an ass-kicking polar bear dog, like Naga. And you are definitely a tiger monkey. All sweet and pretty, until the claws come out.” Korra wiggles with her eyebrows and Asami bursts out laughing.

“Korra, you’re too kind,” she says, and Korra feels her face heating up at the compliment. “But I think it’s clear that I’m a saber-tooth moose lion. Intimidating, smart, strong…” Asami trails off.

“That sounds about right,” Korra muses. “I bet you can hold your own in a fight, Miss Sato.”

“Is that a challenge?” Asami teases. Perhaps, if she’d known Korra longer than just this evening that they shared together, she’d be aware of the danger that lies in those words. Because Korra never backs away from a fight, and Asami had just given her an invitation. Drunk on wine and the crush that Korra was definitely developing for this girl, she jumped up from the couch, stumbled, and started sprinting towards the revolving doors of the building.

“Race you!” Korra shouts over her shoulder to Asami, before she encounters the revolving doors. This should be no problem. Sure, she’s had quite a bit to drink, but she’s the Avatar and Avatars can hold their liquor, damn it. Barely slowing down at all, Korra pushes against the doors, goes a full round and then falls out again, back into the lobby. Asami, who had gotten up from the couch at a normal pace, is now standing before her and laughing so hard that she’s tilting dangerously to the right. Korra catches her before she can fall over. “Woah, why is this so difficult all of a sudden?” Korra wonders aloud. Asami is leaning heavily on Korra’s shoulder.

“That’s ‘cause you’re drunk, sweetheart,” she says, so close to Korra’s ear that she can feel Asami’s breath on her skin. She turns her head to look at Asami.

“I’m not drunk, you’re just blurry.”

Asami throws her head back when she laughs at that, and suddenly there is nothing more that Korra needs than the fresh, cold nighttime air on her face, because if this goes on any longer, she’s going to overheat. Her hand slides from its place on Asami’s lower back around her waist. “Come on, let’s go,” she mumbles under her breath, the corner of her mouth turning up into a smile.

***

It’s slightly chilly outside, but it does nothing to sober Korra up. Not while she’s still walking with a beautiful girl pressed up against her, arm around Asami’s waist and Asami’s arm hanging around her shoulders. Though Republic City never sleeps, they’re not in the bustling center of the city right now, and it’s quiet on the street.

“Hey, do you want to sit?” Korra mumbles, words all flowing together so it sounds more like ‘dyouwannasit?’ Asami stops walking and uses the arm that is slung around Korra’s shoulders to tuck a couple of strands of soft brown hair behind Korra’s ear. It feels like her fingers linger, and Korra isn’t sure whether it’s the alcohol in her system, or if Asami just really enjoys making her blush.

“Sure, if you see a bench anywhere out here,” Asami answers, voice soft like the calm of the night around is not to be disturbed.

“Oh.” Korra hadn’t thought of that. “Okay,” she says, retreating her arm from Asami’s waist and immediately missing the warmth of having the other girl pressed against her side. Korra takes a moment to steady herself, then slams her foot down on the ground and raises her arms up, effectively creating a bench made of earth. She turns back to Asami with a happy smile on her face. “There you go, Mimi!”

Asami appears slightly shocked, so Korra takes the liberty of grabbing her hand and pulling her down to sit on the makeshift bench. “Hey, you okay?” Korra asks as she holds Asami’s hand between her own. “Is this because I called you Mimi?”

“No—I’m fine, I just… I assumed you were a waterbender,” Asami says. “You know, since you’re from the Southern Water Tribe.”

“Oh but you aren’t wrong,” Korra tells her, “I’m actually a waterbender too.” Not waiting for a response, Korra looks around, releases Asami’s hand and bends some dirty rainwater from a puddle. She forms it into a small ball, then freezes it. “There,” she says as she hands it to Asami.

Turning the little ball of frozen water around in her hands, Asami regards Korra with a concentrated look on her face. “Wait—” She begins, and a grin forms on Korra’s face as she sees the realization dawn on Asami. “You’re—you’re the Avatar.”

Korra holds up her hand and bends fire as she cheerfully responds: “Yep!” Asami sighs and leans her head on Korra’s shoulder.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you’re the Avatar,” she whispers, sounding almost scandalous. 

“Well, where’d be the fun in that?” Korra says with a grin. Asami mutters something under her breath. “Huh?”

“I said,” Asami responds, as she sits up to face Korra straight on, her hand finding Korra’s cheek and a small smile playing on her face, “I can’t believe I’m going to kiss the Avatar.”

With a fierce determination, Asami pulls Korra close and presses their lips together. It’s hard and soft at the same time, and Korra feels her knees weaken. Good thing they’re sitting down, she thinks. They break apart for a second, which Korra uses to press their bodies close and let her hands find Asami’s neck under those long, dark tresses.

With Asami’s lips on her own, the scent of Asami’s perfume lingering in her nose and Asami’s warmth on her skin, Korra feels like she’s floating. It could be the alcohol still thrumming through her veins and buzzing under her skin, but Korra is sure that even if she was sober, Asami could get her drunk in a way that liquor never would be able to.

**Author's Note:**

> So the story of Korra meeting Naga in a blizzard is actually canon, check it out here: https://imgur.com/gallery/MeVUZ !!


End file.
